XIX.
RIVERS AND LAKES-FLOWING WELLS.
Several
years ago the writer obtained from an Indian, Nigo, since deceased, the last of
his race in this part of the country then living, the names of some of the
lakes and rivers as they were originally known and called by the Indians, and,
although his knowledge of Indian orthography was quite limited, yet it is
barely possible the reader can guess the pronunciation from the spelling.
Wolf
Creek rises
in Tippecanoe township, passes through a portion of Walnut and Green, and
empties into Yellow river near the northeast corner of Union township. In the
early times it was skirted on either side for some distance with broken
lowlands, marshes, cat swamps, etc., and was a safe and sure retreat for wild
animals of all kinds. Black wolves were numerous from one end of the creek to
the other, and from this fact it took its name. The Indians called it
Katam-ah-see-te-wah,
the Indian name for black wolf In early times Clark Bliven built a mill dam
across the creek a few hundred yards above where it enters into Yellow river. A
sawmill was erected there on which was sawed lumber for the second courthouse,
built in 1850-1. A grist-mill was also erected there about that time and was
used for milling purposes up to about 1904, when, after much "lawing"
in court, the dam was ordered removed, the owner, Michael Zehner, receiving
five or six thousand dollars for the damage sustained. After a year's labor the
dam was removed and the big ditch that was dug along its bottom was completed November
I, 1907, and the old mills and the old mill dam that stood for more than fifty
years are things of the past. Mr. Bliven, about 1851, the original builder of
the dam and the sawmill, in attempting to repair a
break
in the dam caused by high water, fell into the current and was drowned.
Yellow
River was
called by the Indians, Wi-thou-gan, and very appropriately signifies
"yellow water." Another Indian name for it was Wau-sau-auk-a-to-meek,
probably in the Miami Indian tongue, as their language was somewhat different,
or it might not have had reference to the color of the water. The early
settlers called it Yellow River from the peculiar chrome color of the water. It
has been so known ever since, and will doubtless continue to bear that name for
all time to come, although in the drainage of the swamps and marshes through
which it passes the water has become almost clear and has lost its yellow color
which gave it its name. Yellow River rises in the swamps and marshes of Elkhart
and St. Joseph counties, runs through German, Center, West and Union Townships,
and finally finds its way into the Kankakee River, where it is lost forever
amid the rippling waters of the classic stream! The north branch of Yellow
River near Bremen was called Po-co-nack, and means “beechy,” from the
prevalence of beech timber in that region. It is only in wet seasons that it is
entitled to the name of river.
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 91
In
the early period of the settlement of the county a good many people were not
satisfied with the country, and moved on farther west, but after staying a few
years the memory of Yellow river and the "Yellow river valley,"
determined them to return and take up their permanent abode here. This gave
rise to the adage that if persons got their feet wet in Yellow river they could
never stay away from it any great length of time. This inspired one of the
poets of the "Yellow river valley" to put this thought into doggerel
verse as follows :
There's
a tiny little river
Not
so very far away;
Water
clear and sandy bottom,
On
its banks the muskrats play.
Grassy
brinks with stately cat-tails,
Pussy-willow,
perfume blow;
Now
and then a bull-frog's chatter
In the swimming hole below.
Just
the place in sultry August,
On
its banks to idly lie
In
the shade of spreading maple,
Gaze
out at the bright blue sky.
There's
a curious little adage,
And
I know that it is true,
'Bout
this tiny little river
And
I'll whisper it to you.
If,
at any time or season,
You
should venture in its flow;
Even
though the waters tempt you,
Wade
or swim or fish or row;
Should
you leave this little river,
Go
a hundred miles away,
Or
a thousand, or a million,
It's
a cinch you'll never stay.
Platt's
Run is a small stream rising in the west part of
Green and the east part of Union townships. It wends its winding way through
low and swampy land until it empties into Yellow river a short distance below
the mouth of Wolf creek. During the rainy seasons it furnishes a sufficient
supply of water to run a sawmill a portion of the time. A good many years ago a
dam was built across the stream and a sawmill erected on the farm then owned by
Dr. Caillat. The milling business did not prove to be a paying investment and
was abandoned long ago. The creek got its name from Platt B. Dickson, through
whose farm it ran.
92 HISTORY
OF MARSHALL COUNTY
Pine
Creek and Yellow
Branch are both small streams of no special note, rising in Polk township
and emptying into the Kankakee. Yellow Branch was known among the Indians as
"Pan Yan."
Tippecanoe
River rises
in the northeast part of the state, runs through Kosciusko county and passes
diagonally through Tippecanoe township, Marshall county, from northeast to
southwest, where it enters Fulton county, and so on in the same direction until
it empties into the Wabash river. It runs through a splendid section of the
country and is one of the handsomest rivers of its size in the northwest. It
abounds in a plentiful supply of fresh water fish of various kinds. It was
called by the Indians Qui-tip-pe-ca-nuck.
Deep
Creek is a
small body of water running from north to south through Tippecanoe township
until it finds its way into Tippecanoe river . It derives its water from the
marshes and lowlands through which it passes, and is noted for getting "on
a high" every time it rains, and the facility with which it washes away
the small bridges over its banks.
Lakes.
Max-in-kuck-ee
is the
largest of nine bodies of water called lakes in Marshall county. It is in the
southwest corner of the county in Union township. Its dimensions are about
three miles long and two and a half miles wide. The eastern banks are high and
in places quite abrupt. The northern, western and southern banks gradually rise
from the water's edge, and the cultivated farms, extending in places down to
the water, make the scenery the finest in the western country. The lake is fed
entirely by the natural rainfall and the springs which gurgle up from the
bottom in every direction. Of late years it has become one of the most
popular summer resorts in the northwest, a fuller description of which will be
found elsewhere in this history, as well as a paper on the orthography and
meaning of the word Max-in-kuck-ee.
Lake
of the Woods, or,
as it is sometimes called, Big Lake.. is in German and North townships
in the northeast part of the county. Its dimensions are about two miles in
length and one mile wide. It takes its name from the fact that it is completely
surrounded with a thick growth of trees.' It is a beautiful sheet of water, and
is one of the best lakes for fish in the county, but, being a considerable
distance from the main traveled road, has not yet come into public notice as a
place of general resort for sportsmen outside of the immediate neighborhood.
The Indian name for the Lake of the Woods was Co-pen-tuk-con-bes. This
was the name of a vegetable that grew spontaneously in that region in an early
day. It was mostly a product of mud and water, and was found in the outlet, and
in and about the shores. It was similar in appearance to the beet, and when
properly prepared was very nutritious and quite palatable. The Indians cooked
them by digging deep trenches in the ground, walling up the sides with small
stones, leaving a small space in the middle into which they placed the
co-pen-uck-con-bes, and covering them over with bituminous earth and other
burning material, set fire to them and allowed them to burn four days, when the cooking was
completed and they were ready to be served for food.
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 93
Pretty
Lake, four
miles Southwest from Plymouth in West township its name from the fact that it
is the prettiest lake of its size in all the region round about. It is
three-quarters of a mile long and about half as wide. The banks are skirted with
beautiful natural shrubbery and other larger growth. Of late years it has become a
fashionable summer resort for Plymouth
people and others, and about forty Summer cottages have been built the past dozen years.
It is surrounded with well cultivated farms, and from the eminence of the
eastern shore, Lake Como in all its glory never appeared more beautiful.
Twin
Lakes are
also in West township, five miles west and a little farther south than Pretty
lake. These are three small lakes, each connected by a small neck of water
between two hills. The largest is not to exceed three-quarters of a mile in
length and a quarter to half a mile in width. Another is smaller and almost a
perfect circle; while the third is still smaller and is more what a "Hoosier"
would call a marshy pond than a lake. Black bass, sun-fish, goggle eyes, perch
and blue gills are plenty. There are still a few ducks to be found in the
bayous and out of the way places during duck season, but since the white man
came, they, like the Indians over on the north side of the Middle Twin lake,
have had to move on and give place to "the survival of the fittest."
Before the country was settled, ducks congregated there by the thousand, so
much so that the Indians called it "Duck lake," in their language,
She-ba-ta-ba-uk.
Flat
Lake and Galbraith
Lake are in West township. They are both quite diminutive, and are growing
smaller by degrees and beautifully less as the years go by. They were in the
early times a favorite asylum for ducks and wild geese, and in that region was
an Indian camping ground and a runway for wild deer, turkeys and other wild
fowls.
Dixon
Lake divides
the honors between Center and West townships two and a half miles southwest of
Plymouth. It is perhaps half a mile long and half as wide. It empties its
surplus water into Yellow river, which flows southward half a mile distant to
the eastward. It was named in honor of a man by the name of George W. Dixon,
who resided in the vicinity of the lake in an early day.
Mud
Lake is in
Green township, in close proximity to the Fulton county line. It is small and
will never attain an extensive notoriety.
Lake
Manatau and Lost Lake are in
Union township, not far from Lake Maxinkuckee.
Muckshaw
Lake is one
mile south of Plymouth, through which the Lake Erie & Western railroad
passes. As its name indicates, it is mostly composed of muck, and the duck
hunter, as he goes into the muck up to his armpits, is apt to ejaculate, , Oh,
Pshaw !" Hence the name. This lake was immortalized by a continued story,
illustrated, Published in the Plymouth Democrat in 1878, to which the attention
of the curious reader is directed.
The
Great Magnetic Flowing Well. There are a large number of
flowing wells in the county, the largest and most important of which is the
Great Magnetic Flowing Well near where the old Plymouth gristmill formerly
stood, between the mill-race and Yellow river, in the north part of town. The
proprietors, J. V. Bailey and L. G. Capron, had sunk an iron
94 HISTORY
OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
tube
pipe for the purpose of operating a turbine water-wheel. When down about forty-
feet, the parties driving the tube suddenly broke through into an apparently
hollow place, and the water came rushing out at the top of the tube. In a short
space of time the bright sparkling water spouted two feet above the tube with a
steady, even flow that was exceedingly refreshing to behold on a hot, sultry
day. The tube happened to stand perpendicular, and the stream parted at the top
in liquid, sparkling hemispheres, taking on alt the tints and colors of the
rainbow, and fell to the pool below in a plume-like cascade, almost hiding the
tube itself.
By experiment it was found that the flow ceased at a height of about fifteen feet above the river low-water mark. Accordingly the proprietors put down a thirteen-inch tube as an experiment. When the same depth was reached as in the first tube sunk, the flow of water came up through the enlarged pipe with equal force. The volume of water discharged was simply enormous, and it has continued from that time (1875) to the present (1907) without any decrease in the flow. It is estimated that the well discharges 500 gallons per minute, 30,000 per hour and 720,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, sufficient to supply a city of 50,000 inhabitants. Tests and experiments have conclusively shown that the water is highly magnetic and is otherwise possessed of medicinal and other curative properties in an eminent degree. It is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable flows of water, considering the depth, in the world.
Since
then there have probably been put down in Plymouth 100 inch-and-a-half flowing
wells, and the city waterworks are supplied with water from nine flowing wells
which have been sunk from a depth of from fifty to 100 feet, furnishing an
abundant supply of absolutely pure, sparkling water.
In
various parts of the county especially in the center, northwest, west and
southwest, flowing wells are found in abundance.
At
and near Teegarden, in Polk township, the same flow of water has been
secured, and many flowing wells have been put down.
In
the region of Donelson and the country round about, the same flow of
water is secured, and occasionally it comes to the surface in the form of
springs.
Maxinkuckee
Lake is famed
for its numerous and splendid flowing wells. Almost all the numerous cottages
on the east, south and north parts of the lake are supplied with water from
flowing wells, and the lake itself is kept at its normal height by water which
comes from the flowing well reservoir at the bottom.
Bourbon
Living Spring Nearly
half a century ago Capt. John C. Hedrick, a veteran of the Mexican war (long
since deceased) , discovered on his farm, a short distance from Bourbon, a vein
of water which proved to be a living spring. The water is perfectly clear, and
very pleasant to the taste. The water boils up in twenty-five or thirty
different places, and the surroundings showed that the fountain head is at
least sixteen feet below the surface of the ground. It is thought that, with
proper hydraulic appliances, water from the spring might be easily carried to
the town of Bourbon, and the business' and residence houses abundantly supplied
with water. This great spring evidently comes from the immense reservoir that
holds the water for the flowing wells all over the county.